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Solid Korean BBQ at Madangsui

Madangsui is one of the few better restaurants in Manhattan’s Koreatown. The large, single floor space is comfortable to sit in for a meal quite quickly.

Madangsui serves a large assortment of banchan, small appetizer-like plates, that runs that gamut from cold dishes like mildly spicy kimchi, shaved pickled daikon radishes to the small, hot cast iron pots filled with a spicy vegetable stew, and a Korean style steamed egg dish called gaeran jim. The latter was very good — fluffy and light savory eggs topped with fresh scallions — that my dining companion kept on digging in that pot throughout the meal.

We shared haemul pajeon 해물파전 ($14.99), a large pan-fried Korean pancake with assortment of seafood, that was packed with a lot of chopped octopus, various seafood and scallions that it fell apart while attempting to pick up the slices with our chopsticks. Nicely seasoned and cooked well.

The japchae 잡채 ($14.99), a stir-fried Korean starch noodles with vegetables and beef seasoned with soy sauce, was a very flavorful dish that we don’t mind eating most of it, despite of our main course, the Korean BBQ meats.

We, daringly so, ordered the Meat Combo platter for 3 고기 콤보 ($79.99) that was a platter that has mounds of raw, marinated short rib, bulgogi, pork bulgogi, chicken, and thinly sliced mushrooms. Our waitress expertly cooked the meats for us in timed sections.

First round of grilling (or barbecuing) was all about the beef. Both were cooked to a medium-well but the meat were still tender, juicy and flavorful of its marinade. The next round of pork and chicken were done well and what I liked a lot about the grilled mushrooms were how it mimics the texture and flavor of meat. We managed to eat it all with our bowl of rice and wrapping it in leafy leaves of lettuce and top it with chunky white miso paste.

Korean BBQ at Madangsui serves a very hearty, delicious meal at a reasonable price. The service is quite swift yet friendly.

To view more photos of this meal, please CLICK HERE or view the gallery below: